Hi all! Today I have some really fun art to share with you! If you've been following me on my Instagram, you'll know that for Inktober and Huevember this year, I made a combined prompt list: TimeTober + TimeVember! Here is the prompt list below:
So as you can see, the prompt list combines challenge aspects from both Inktober and Huevember, making a full 14 prompt challenge. The first 7 prompts (during Inktober) are done in black and white and are themed to the 1700s-1940s. The last 7 (during Huevember) are done in Red-Pink and are themed to the 1950s-2020! I have process videos for all 14 drawings, so if you are interested in seeing those, just click here:
You can see all these pieces on my Instagram, but I thought it'd be fun to take a closer look at them and talk a bit more in detail about each piece. So let's get started!
Prompt 1: 1700s:
Here is the first entry into the challenge! I am really really happy with this one, especially the background! At first I wasn't sure what type of backgrounds to do for this series but I decided to include objects reminiscent of the time! I also wanted to have a gradient from dark to light in the backgrounds as well, so I started here using my darkest gray for the background. I had a set color palette of cool grays I was working with for these pieces, plus the addition of a gold, just to add a nice pop of color.
If you are interested in seeing the brushes I used for these pieces, click on the prompt list above to go see the original post, where I show them off. All of these pieces were done using Procreate, and I mainly worked with the studio pen, dry brush, and gouache brushes (which are all free with procreate!). I decided to lean towards French fashion from the 1700s, specifically the Rococo era. I really like how this turned out, especially how the background on this one almost looks like chalkboard! This is definitely one of my favorites out of the whole challenge.
To avoid too many pieces with similar fashion, I skipped a lot of time, going straight from the 1700s to the 1800s. I wanted to be sure that each piece felt as unique and different as it could, while still trying to maintain an accurate depiction of the chosen time. I know this specific fashion cannot encapsulate ALL of the 1700s, but I do think it was a fun option and definitely screams 1700s fashion, at least to me. I think my favorite part of making this was trying to mimic the makeup style used commonly then - or at least, in modern day depictions of said time - so I went for a heavy makeup look with the eyeshadow, strong lipstick, possibly powdered cheeks, and of course it wouldn't be rococo without the beauty mark!
Prompt 2: 1800s
This one feels like the polar opposite to the last one! While my 1700s piece was all about high society, I kept things a little more simple with this piece and took inspiration from the classic Jane Austen style! The silhouette is very different here, with the 1700s gown being focused on flaring out as much as possible, while the simpler 1800s dresses just flowed down naturally. The "waist" of these dresses was also extremely high, usually being tied more towards the bottom of the chest than the waist. And of course I had to give her those classic ringlet curls! I had a lot of fun with the items in the background for this one as well!
I was trying really hard to keep the contrast in these pieces - this was my first time ever trying black and white art digitally. I am afraid her hair blends in a bit with the background but hopefully it is not too bad! I was trying to slowly lighten the background so that it was difficult to tell side by side the colors were very different, but seeing the first and last piece together would be a stark difference, if that makes sense. A slow gradient throughout each picture. Because of this I felt somewhat limited in what colors I could actually use for the rest of the drawing because i didn't want the character to blend in with the background color. So I stuck to mostly light colors besides her hair, because I also didn't want the hair and dress to be the same. The struggle!
If you click on any of these pictures you will be taken to their Instagram post where you can read my initial thoughts on them!
Prompt 3: 1900s
This one is very inspired by the industrial revolution, which I know began earlier but that wasn't my focus in the 1800s piece and I still wanted to include many of the newer inventions as background pieces! Things like the lightbulb, an automatic sewing machine, a camera, even the first film in theaters! The fashion also starts to get a bit more structured here with the button up top piece on a lot of dresses. Also took a little inspiration from one of my favorite musicals, Newsies, for the overall fashion style, though it technically takes place in 1899 I think it passes. The hat was a big struggle but I think I got there in the end. This is definitely one of my favorite pieces of the 7 black and white ones, I think I really managed the contrast well and I had a lot of fun with the little details!
If I could only change one thing, I wish the expression felt a bit more alive. Every now and again I draw a face and it just feels a tad off, I am not quite sure what it is about it but it doesn't feel as good as it could be. I hope with more practice I will be able to figure it out.
Prompt 4: 1910s
This one kind of had me stumped for a while. I feel like the 1910s in themselves don't have a whole lot of "iconic" items associated with it, so I just tried to add some more generic items that feel old fashioned and of the time. We also start to see the clothes get even MORE structured than during the early 1900s! I think because I had a tough time making this one, I feel a little down about it, but when I just look at it on its own I realize I do quite like the piece! I don't have much to say about this one, but I do like it! I regret using a default stripe pattern on the skirt and warping it now, but at the time the skirt felt bland and I did not feel like designing a whole pattern for it.
I also kind of think all the tones are a bit too similar to one another. Not my absolute best, but I do still like it!
Prompt 5: 1920s
I am so so happy with this one! The 1920s is one of my favorite time periods so I guess it is no surprise. I particularly enjoyed adding all the gold fringe to the dress and trying to give the illusion she was sort of spinning around! I think the lineart on the background objects turned out a bit too thick this time, and maybe went a bit overboard on the gold compared to the other pieces, but that's okay. Other than that, I am really really happy with this piece! I am not entirely sure how I would rank these pieces but this one would definitely be high up on the list.
I was originally unsure what items to add to the background but then I found stock images on Google with small items for different time periods, so that helped to inspire the different objects. I am not sure how well it reads but the bottom left item is meant to be a microphone. I basically just went for a jazz inspired theme!
Prompt 6: 1930s
This MAY be my favorite of all the black and white drawings!! It just turned out so well!! I really love how her face and hair turned out, I don't quite know what I enjoy so much about the way her face turned out, but that feels like what I want my style to be! I had a lot of fun doing some hatching on her skirt, which is something I wish I had found a place to do more of in this series, because I really like the texture it adds!
Oddly enough, my favorite part of this piece is the toast and toaster in the background! I was heavily inspired by Kasey Golden's artwork in the way that I swirled the jam all around, I just think it looks so cool and adds so much fun to the background! Bottom left item is based on the shape of 1930s house radios, they had a really odd and unique shape so I thought it would be fun to include. I just really like how this one turned out!
Prompt 7: 1940s
Last black and white piece and last piece for TimeTober! This is honestly probably my least favorite of all 14. I really really struggled on that hand and I am not content with what I ended up using, but I was on a time schedule and needed to get this post out so I settled for it the way it is.
One of the goals I try to set for myself in recent art challenges is to COMPLETE all the days set aside for the challenge, as opposed to trying to PERFECT each piece in the series and inevitably running out of time or inspiration to complete all the days. In a big series like this, I figure not every piece can be my favorite right?
I was also kind of unsure about what background items I could use, I decided to use a record player even though in my plans I had originally slated to use that for the 50s piece, but I figured the 50s had more items to work with and decided to use it here instead. The other items are a retro vacuum cleaner and a slinky because those both kept being suggested for the 40s.
Overall it is not my favorite but like I said, they can't all be winners, and it's more of a learning process for me to just move on and not be a perfectionist over the details of a piece.
Prompt 8: 1950s + Red
Our first colored piece for TimeVember! I originally had a very specific posting plan for the first 7 piece so that it would take me all throughout October to release them. But then I started to finish the timevember pieces so ahead of time that I figured, why postpone posting art that I have already made for so long just to follow the rules of a challenge I created? So I actually began posting these during October, whoops! In the end it didn't really matter because hashtags on instagram are down, so these posts wouldn't have been added to any huevember hashtags anyway..
My first color was red, which is a little tough, because if you lighten it too much it really just becomes pink! So I stuck with much more bright and saturated reds, which I think looks good but I also had to work with the contrast a bit. I had a lot of fun with the dress on this character, especially using a dotted brush to create all those tiny dots! It added just a little bit of texture and visual interest to the dress so that it wasn't all just the same red. I also really liked having the top and skirt parts be sort of mirrored! The objects on this one were pretty easy to think up, I went for an electric guitar instead of the records.
Prompt 9: 1960s + Orange
This one took a lot of thinking about, but eventually became one of my favorites! The pose is a tad odd, but I referenced it from old 1960s fashion magazines I saw on Pinterest! I think the pose was basically just a way to show off the super tall boots that were in style at the time, so I added some to my character as well! I think my favorite aspect of this is the little flower detail on the belt! I don't know if you have noticed, but a lot of these pieces use belts, or at least ribbons tied around the waist. At first I thought it was a weird coincidence I kept picking outfits with belts but then I realized it's a cool and easy way to show the desired waistline on clothing at the time, and I think I was picking those outfits because it really makes the silhouette of the time stand out! A lot of 60s dresses are just one bell shape with no waist, but I have to admit, I am not really a fan of that look so I opted for this, which is a similar style of dress but with a belt added. And I really had fun with the shapes inside the lava lamp!
Prompt 10: 1970s
Made it double digits! I like the art in this piece, but honestly the color of yellow I used on the background sort of bothers me. I wanted to make the background dark enough to see the white items, but not turn it into an orange or a brown, so the yellow I ended up with is a tad muddy. You may have also noticed something.. these are the same hands from the 20s piece. You caught me! I had wanted both girls doing a similar pose to show off separate flared aspects of their dresses. And then I really wasn't sure another way to draw the hands.
This isn't among my personal faves - but it was for you guys! If you follow my Insta, you'll know I have been doing votes on each post to decide who you guys like the best - and 70s ran as number one for a long while before finally getting kicked down by the 2000s! I am glad you guys like her a lot and can see the good in this piece that I can't, haha!
Prompt 11: 1980s + Green My absolute favorite time period! I had way too much fun with this one, especially just going ham on that overly 80s outfit - I included a scrunchie, big earrings, wire framed glasses, a windbreaker, Hawaiian shirt, fanny pack, and acid washed jeans all in one image - and that's kind of a lot. But thankfully I think it still works in the end! I really like this character and her outfit, even the items around her were a ton of fun and pretty easy to think of this time! If I could change one thing about the piece, I would darken that background a touch so the items stand out a bit better.
Thankfully, I am hoping to convert all these pieces to CMYK so that I can print them in a calendar - which means it will probably dull the green color a bit, which in this case is kind of a good thing!
Anyway I really like this one and I hope you do to! We're getting to the end here!
Prompt 12: 1990s + Blue
I am SO happy with this one!! Unfortunately it really got hit by the hashtag block and is stuck at an oddly low reach, but oh well. I had so much fun with the layers in her outfit and the double denim was so much fun to pull off! Blue is also my favorite color so that may be affecting my love for this one in particular. One of my favorite things to do is draw plaid patterns so I had to sneak in a little plaid shirt underneath her jean jacket! I really wish I had remembered to draw some patches on her sleeves though!!
You may recognize the hairstyle and if so, that's because I have actually drawn it a few times before on my OC Finley (who is meant to be from the 90s) so I thought it would be fun to sneak a little reference to her into this piece because I find the hairstyle SO fun to draw!
Prompt 13: 2000s + Purple
This is the one you all eventually voted as your absolute favorite of all 14 pieces over on my Instagram, and I think with good reason! She might be my favorite as well! I put a ton of detail into her hair, it's a little hard to see but there are actually small braids running through it! Even though I am personally not a huge fan of 2000s fashion, I had a lot of fun creating it just cause it is so different to what I normally tend to draw! I gave her the sort of baggy cargo pants (think Kim Possible) that were really in style. Her shirt is meant to be a really specific, almost crinkly texture that I always see early 2000s shirts being, but I honestly cannot for the life of me find a word to describe that texture. I think you know what I mean.. they were like really small when not being worn. If you know what I am talking about PLEASE let me know below cause it is driving me crazy!
I think a few of the items I chose are a little difficult to figure out so: I included one of those "jelly shoes", a fluffy pen and a diary, a 3ds, an ipod, and a ring pop. They felt iconic enough for me!
Prompt 14: 2020 + Pink
And last but not least, 2020! Our last piece catches us up to current day. You may notice I kind of skipped the 2010s, that's because I decided participants could choose whether to make the last prompt 2010 or 2020. I opted for 2020 just because I thought it would be more different in comparison to the 2000s piece. I really like how this one turned out and I was glad to call the challenge finished with one I am proud of! Since I skipped over 2010, I did try to make this piece sort of represent it a bit (look at that polaroid camera!). I was trying to go for the cottage style that is so popular right now, because a lot of 2020 fashion is just retro anything from the 70s to the early 2000s, and I didn't want her to look like any of the other characters so I wanted to pick something uniquely 2020!
I hope you guys liked taking a little tour of the series! If you wanna read more, again you can see all of my initial thoughts on them if you just click on each picture to go to the original post!
I thought it would be kind of fun if in the comments below we came up with some names for the characters - so if you have a name suggestion, let me know down below and for which character you are suggesting it for!
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I hope you enjoyed! If you want to see more from me, subscribe down below! And to view my artwork, follow me on my instagram @raineydaydoodles, and check out all my accounts at https://linktr.ee/raineydaydoodles